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BF is great, but my hair!.....

I've been BF my daughter for 7.5 mnths, that's going well, but my hair is REALLY STARTING to fall out..especially when I grab a handful in the shower! Is this the low estrogen? My hairdresser mentioned to me a few months ago to start watching for my hair to start really 'clumping out', and boy was she right!!!! Is this happening to anyone else, and if so, do you know why?

Re: BF is great, but my hair!.....

LOL I was just posting about this last night!! YES! My hair is falling out like crazy! It's always been fine but not thin and receding like it is now! It's nice to know, in a way, that I'm not alone, but I feel really self conscious about it... I honestly don't really know what to do about it... a few other women mentioned taking an extra iron supplement, so I've started doing that. I think the longer post about hair loss is towards the end of this page or on the next one... there's an interesting link about hair loss... Good luck...

Re: BF is great, but my hair!.....

And this is what I posted on the other thread ... including the Kelly Mom link:

From what I understand, we only lose the hair that grew in thicker while pregnant. I didn't experience any loss ... but while pregnant my hair never grew very lush and thick either. Here is some info from Kelly Mom's site:

"Normally, around 85-95% of your hair is in the growth phase at any point in time, but the hormonal changes during pregnancy stimulate an increase in the percentage of hairs in the growth phase. As a result, many women enjoy thicker hair during pregnancy, as more hairs than normal are growing and fewer than normal are resting/shedding.

With the birth of your baby (and the hormonal changes that accompany birth), a larger number of hairs than normal enter the resting phase. Since the resting phase is followed by hair shedding (and regrowth), new mothers will experience greater than normal hair loss once the resting phase ends.

Postpartum hair loss commonly starts at around three months after birth. The amount of time between childbirth and the onset of shedding corresponds to the length of the resting phase of hair growth (between 1 and 6 months, with an average of three months). The hair loss can seem more extreme if your hair grew much more than normal during pregnancy, or if you have long hair. Most women will return to their usual hair growth cycle within six months, or between 6 and 12 months after birth.

If you feel that your hair loss is greater than the norm, or if things are not back to normal by the time your baby is 12 months old, then see your doctor. Excessive hair loss can be caused by common and easy-to-remedy postpartum conditions such as hypothyroidism (low thyroid hormone) or iron-deficiency anemia."

Mama to Adeline Brett, breastfed for 4.5 years (12/14/05) and little Eliza June, new tiny sprite in my arms and still learning the ropes (7/18/10)

Family Blog • If I'm here I'm nursing and typing one handed ... forgive the typos!
And I'm not a newbie at all ... I'm trying to get my old user ID working from back in the day ... paint-the-moon